a player for the players.
A music player made for musicians.
Here's what it does
Slow it down.
Half speed, quarter speed, anything in between. Pitch stays put, so the song still sounds like the song.
Change the key.
Move the song up or down by semitones. No chipmunks, no monster voice. Drop a half-step to sing it, or shift it onto your instrument's tuning.
Loop any part.
Drag a bracket across any part of the song. Loops snap to bars, so when it repeats the beat keeps going — no awkward jump backs.
Split into stems.
Pull vocals, drums, bass and other out of any track. Mute the singer or solo the bass line or just turn down the drums a little bit. Splits save per song.
Map the song in a minute.
Mark the song's sections - verse, chorus, c part, etc - Each gets its own colour on the waveform.
And each one's a spot you can jump straight to, loop on repeat, and come back to next time you open the song.
Setlists in a sidebar.
Group your songs into a "wedding set" or "tunes I'm learning this month" and jump between them without re-importing. Edits, loops and section fixes travel with each track.
Imports from your Music app library, or any folder of mp3, m4a, wav, flac, or aac.
Practice with the record, not against it.
I built thePlayer because I kept reaching for tools that did part of what I wanted — slow a song, loop a section, split out the drums — and getting frustrated that none of them did all of it in one place, on a Mac, in a way that felt like a real Mac app.
It's a one-person project, built one feature at a time. Buying it pays for the time, and means I can keep working on it.
— Barel · 2026Questions, answered.
Is there a free version?
Yes — and it's a real one, not a teaser. Download it and you can open any song, slow it down, and loop sections for as long as you like. The $39 Pro unlock adds key changing, stem separation, the section editor, and the song library + setlists.
Is it a subscription?
No — $39 once. That unlocks Pro on every Mac you own, and there's nothing to renew.
Does it work on Intel Macs?
thePlayer runs on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and later) on macOS 14 Sonoma or newer. The stem separator needs the Neural Engine.
Where do my files go?
Nowhere. The app runs entirely on your Mac — stem separation included. Unlocking Pro takes a quick email sign-in; after that it works offline.
What formats does it read?
mp3, m4a, wav, flac, aac, and aiff. Drag a file onto the window or import a folder. Apple Music subscription tracks (DRM) aren't supported.
Refunds?
Not for you? Email support@theplayer.app — checkout and refunds run through Gumroad, no hassle.
$39, one time.
Free to download — open songs, slow them down, loop the hard parts as long as you like. The $39 Pro unlock (one payment, every Mac you own) adds key changing, stem separation, the section editor, and the song library.
macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon · signed & notarized